


Cage On The Ground

by Bookwrm389



Category: Star Fox Series
Genre: Angst and Humor, Current Fox/Krystal, F/M, Implied Future Fox/Wolf, M/M, Post Aparoid Invasion, Pre-Relationship, Rivals To Equals, Rivals to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 09:14:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17937020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bookwrm389/pseuds/Bookwrm389
Summary: Corneria celebrates the New Year in the wake of the Aparoid invasion, and two former rivals teeter on the brink between the regrets of the past and the uncertainties of the future.





	Cage On The Ground

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on FF.net

Whoever had created the Lylatian Interplanetary Calendar—used as standard time by every planet in the system regardless of the local season or day—had known exactly what they were doing. Although it took into consideration the significant holidays of even the most far flung territories, those who lived in the northern hemisphere of Corneria tended to benefit the most from the way the days fell, which only made sense as the center of commerce and government and the densest population cluster in the system. Fox was certain it was no coincidence that the eve of the New Year happened to fall on his homeworld's Summer Solstice, a time when winter was a distant memory but the sun was not quite hot enough to make life a sweltering misery. No hurricanes or tropical storms threatened the coastlines at this time of year, leaving everyone free to spend a glorious holiday at the nearest beach or park or fairground, while the nights were devoted to concerts and barhopping and the many thousands of fireworks displays set to go off at the same time all over the planet.

He should be at one of those concerts right now. His team had agreed to split up for the day and take a few hours to celebrate as they chose, then meet up later in the evening. Fox checked the time on his personal comm, then sighed and stuffed it in his pocket before reclining back on the wing of his Arwing, legs dangling over the edge as he leaned on his hands and gazed up at the darkening sky. He wasn't far from the city, barely a few minutes' flight, but the high granite cliffs surrounding this little cove all but ensured his solitude and made it so no one could reach this spot except by flight. Still his ears flicked back and forth to show his restlessness, hearing only the wind rustling the grass and ocean waves somewhere through the trees to his right, though that was nearly drowned out by the soft, steady beat of music emitting from the speakers inside the open cockpit, a young female serenading to no one. " _Pulling me from the other side of the world, magnetic! Filling up the space between the stars, we are... magnetic! Nothing's gonna come between us now, always gonna find each other..._ "

"...always gonna find each other," Fox mouthed, then caught himself and cursed the song for being so catchy. He made a mental note to avoid this artist in the future...if only he wasn't drawing a blank on who exactly she was. It had been years since he had listened to any music other than the tracks he already owned, let alone made a point of figuring out who was popular now. Every time he returned to Corneria after long stretches in space, he felt one step out of sync with everyone else, like the new kid struggling to find the place where he fit in. And it was only made worse by watching the rest of his team slip into life on the ground so seamlessly. Peppy had his wife and daughter and a comfortable retirement to look forward to, while Slippy had his fiancée and a career established long before he ever took to the skies. Falco could make himself at home anywhere and seemed to have a posse of friends on every planet, and even Krystal...

His thoughts came to a brief standstill, the natural beauty of the cove just a little bit dampened. He hadn't come here to think about Krystal. But as usual his own mind conspired against him. Fox laid flat on his back and pillowed his arms behind his head, eyes drifting to the clouds and idly picking out the first few stars in the velvet indigo. Not so long ago Krystal had been a virtual stranger to Lylat, yet she seemed to have an ease with other people that he simply lacked and had formed more meaningful attachments in a year than Fox had in his life. He could readily admit that he had been of little help there, though he had done what he could to help her adjust to the Cornerian version of civilization. He had trained her in modern weapons and combat, taught her everything Peppy had taught him, gotten her registered and licensed as a pilot and freelance mercenary...essentially given her all she needed to stand on her own feet and make whatever life she chose.

And then, almost before he turned around, she had chosen him.

 _Oh, the joys and trials of love,_  Fox thought with some scorn. And he relished the chance to give that thought free reign to exist. To have a private moment when he could indulge in glum negativity without Krystal sensing it and rushing to fix it. Maybe things had been different on Cerinia, maybe her people had been so open with their emotions and inner turmoil that it wasn't considered a violation. But all it did for Fox was irritate him, especially when the same bond could never work the other way and left him in the dark about what she was thinking and feeling. Unless of course she decided to share, but being a telepath raised among others of her kind, it literally never occurred to Krystal that her thoughts had to be spelled out plainly  _with_   _words_  in order to be known. Fox still curdled with embarrassment when he remembered that first awkward week aboard the Great Fox, completely unaware that he was basically broadcasting his attraction despite his attempts to hide it, while Krystal had been shocked to learn that he was blind to her mental signals and therefore completely  _unaware_ of her equal attraction to him.  _That_  had been a memorable conversation and one that often required repeating with each new squabble or misunderstanding.

_Don't, Fox. I don't want to hear it._

_...I didn't even say anything._

_It's what you're ABOUT to say. What you've been trying to say for the past few days, and lately the only thought in your head that concerns me in any way, shape or form._

_Krystal, you know how much I..._

_You have a strange way of showing your love, by wishing I would never fly again!_

_That's not what..._

_It's EXACTLY what you want! You want me to leave Star Fox, but still be your paramour. You want me to stay safe on Corneria, far away from these dangerous missions, and find another life outside of this team that I love. You want to set me aside as a...as a mere ACCESSORY while you take all the risks and live however you please!_

_If you're going to read my mind, at least do it right! This has nothing to do with telling you how to live your life! I almost lost you on that mission to the Aparoid homeworld and a hundred other times before that! And I know that we both knew what you were signing up for, but I just...I wasn't ready for...it terrified me, Krystal! Seeing you struggle so much when I couldn't do anything about it, and I know it's only going to happen again and again! I don't want to lose you, not like that!_

_And why is it such a certainty that I will be lost? Am I such a poor pilot? Do you regret taking me on as your wingmate?_

_No, I..._

He tried to smother the thought before she could sense it, but Krystal had already turned away with the most tearful and heartbroken expression that Fox had ever seen. And he didn't blame her.  _'I regret taking you on as my girlfriend'_  was not something that anyone would be happy to hear out loud, let alone perceive mind-to-mind when there was no chance to take it back or pretend he had misspoken.

He couldn't help it though. Fox had  _known_ their relationship was a bad idea from the start. It was the whole reason why he had held back in the beginning and watched with growing apprehension as Krystal spent more time with the rest of the team and began to grow attached to them, attached to the whole ideal of what Star Fox represented, what they tried to be. When the expected day came that she stood in front of Fox and requested to become the fourth pilot, he had nearly refused for reasons that had nothing to do with how well or badly she flew. Romantic connections had no place in a job like this. Yes, they had the potential to strengthen team bonds, but they also had the potential to shatter them, and Fox had been reluctant to take the risk.

But now he  _had_ taken the risk, despite his own better judgment, despite his instincts screaming at him to ignore his base desires so they could never blossom into something stronger. Now he was committed, to caring about her happiness and safety and future and a million other things that would not have been an issue if she were just another wingmate. Even if Fox broke up with her now, it would accomplish nothing but to hurt them both and cause a deep rift in the team. Perhaps too deep to heal. And Krystal had made it clear that if he forcefully kicked her off the team, then their relationship was over anyway and it would lead to the same result. Or worse. Fox had known other mercenary teams in the past who had fallen apart from one bad decision, and he honestly didn't know how Peppy and Slippy and Falco would react to losing Krystal. At best they might present a united public face while questioning his choice behind closed doors...or at worst they might threaten to leave the team as well and leave him in command of nothing but a robot and a mothership.

In the end, there were no good choices. Or more to the point, there were only two choices that he could halfway stomach. Either he let things remain as they were, let Krystal stay on the team and continue to feel his heart seize and his gut wrench each time they went into battle. Or...

Fox shut his eyes and dug around in his pocket until his fingers closed on the velvet box beside his comm. He brought it out, flicked it open with one hand and only then opened his eyes to behold the platinum ring tucked in the satin, diamonds and amethysts sparkling in the light of the dying sun. Not the most impressive thing in the world, but its monetary worth meant little to Fox. It was the same ring that his father had given to his mother, back before Star Fox was formed, back when he was simply James McCloud with a pitiful savings account and little to offer but his love and good looks. Fox had thought about buying something more eye-catching, but that would have cost a fortune, not even counting the bribe to buy the jeweler's silence. The last thing he needed was the tabloids exploding with speculation when Fox himself wasn't completely sure if this was the path he wanted to take. Krystal might not even expect it. Her exact words had been ' _I'll stop flying when you do the same',_  but the seething tone had been more challenge than ultimatum, shouted over her shoulder as she swept out the door and vanished into the streets of Corneria.

"What am I  _doing?_ " Fox groaned, unconsciously echoing the same words he had once spoken on Sauria. He loved Krystal. The fact that he even  _considered_  giving up his dream for her was a testament to his devotion. No one else had ever brought him this close. None of his partners in the past had ever lasted longer than a few weeks or months, quickly left behind and forgotten as soon as the next mission came, as soon as the sky called him away. Krystal was different and always had been...but that didn't make it any easier.

Logically, Fox thought glumly as he shut the box and let his arm rest across his eyes, now really  _would_ be the best time to retire. He had always known he wouldn't fly forever and neither would Krystal. They had talked about it sometimes, what they would do when the time came to hang up their flight jackets and settle down, to get married and start a family. It always painted such a shining picture in his head, almost unreal in a way, as if he could scarcely imagine that such a thing could belong to him. The terms  _husband_  and  _father_  were foreign concepts, so far removed from the pilot and mercenary that he was now. Fox wasn't entirely sure he was ready to embrace them, not right now or even within the next few years. Maybe not ever.

Fox shook his head and mentally clamped down on that rebellious voice in his heart and the knots of anxiety twisting in his gut. If he wanted to be with Krystal, then it was pretty much a given that they  _would_  end up at the altar someday, so what was the point of fighting it or even delaying it? Better to do it now while he was in the prime of his life and had money to spare after the Aparoid invasion. Better to do it at a time when he knew the rest of the team would not be cast adrift. Better to do it before he had to watch Krystal disappear in a fiery explosion, the same way he had lost his mother to that car bomb. The same way he had lost his father on Venom.

 _Wish you were here, Dad,_  Fox thought in some deep, childish part of his heart. He could have used a serious father-son talk right about now to sort all of this out. He wished he could know for sure how James had felt when he proposed to Vixy. Had he been this uncertain, this troubled at the thought of being tied down? When he went to one knee with ring in hand, had he feared being laughed at or met with a cold stare, wordless and yet so penetrating, like Krystal was so good at? Or had he been so happy and deliriously in love that he was blind to anything resembling failure?

A dark shadow flitted by overhead. Fox lifted his arm and bolted upright at the brief glimpse of a black and red starfighter streaking across the sky, so low in altitude that the wind of its passing ripped through the cove and caused all the trees to sway and creak and loose a number of their leaves. He lost sight of the fighter for a few seconds as it swooped out to sea, but Fox knew it had seen him and would circle back in a moment. He could already hear the engines revving down, still unbearably loud like thunder but no longer the deafening scream that threatened to burst his eardrums and shatter his teeth.

Fox breathed deeply, shoving the ring in his pocket and all thoughts of Krystal to the back of his mind, before he stood and waited perched on his wing. The wind picked up again and the fighter reappeared to hover low above the treeline, drifting sideways in a lazy circle, the nose pointed unerringly at him. And even though Fox had expected this encounter—hell, he had outright asked for it—there was still no way to prepare himself for the sight of those black wings bearing down on him and the snarl of those powerful engines, so akin to the soothing purr of an Arwing that only a practiced ear could tell the difference. For so many years, ever since those two decisive dogfights on Fichina and Venom, Fox had dreaded the sudden appearance of a Wolfen on his radar, which almost always heralded a vicious battle for supremacy and the strong possibility of death. Even now he had to fight the urge to dive into the cockpit, muscles tense beneath bristling fur, pulse beating out a frantic tempo. It was a reminder and a challenge and a warning all in one, a blatant slap in the face with the understanding that, for all he had defeated Andross and saved the system, he was nowhere close to the best that Lylat had to offer. There were others who were equal to him, others who were  _better_ than him, and at least one who had the potential to snatch away every shred of confidence he had gained over the years and knock him down to the level of a novice.

Peppy had once made the pragmatic remark that perhaps it was good for Fox to have a rival. Someone who could keep him on his toes and make sure he never slacked or became too cocky. Fox had shot him a dirty look and retorted that if he wanted a rival, he would hire Falco for the job. Falco was definite rival material. Wolf was just a pain in the ass.

A shrill whine jolted him back to awareness, the lasers on the Wolfen suddenly powering up and charging to full capacity, twin lights of pulsing red locked onto him and his beloved Arwing. Fox caught his breath and staggered back, torn between jumping off the wing or drawing his own blaster in pitiful retaliation. But he recovered and scowled angrily, one hand braced on the raised canopy as he returned the threat with a rude gesture.

"Yeah, and fuck you too!"

The headset lying inside the Arwing crackled with static and gruff laughter, and much to Fox's relief, the Wolfen powered down its lasers. He had only been about sixty percent sure that Wolf was messing with him. He crossed his arms as the Wolfen lowered to touch down on the grass on the other side of the clearing, the engines throttling down and the canopy springing open. Wolf himself appeared an instant later, easily swinging from the seat and dropping down to the ground, legs bent to absorb the impact. Their eyes met then for the first time outside their respective cockpits, and Fox forced himself to breathe while he waited for Wolf to make his approach, the two sizing each other up. But Wolf was also scanning from side to side, one hand in the pocket of his brown duster while the other casually hung at his side, clearly prepared to draw a hidden weapon if needed.

"What?" Fox demanded. "Expecting someone else?"

Wolf paused almost beneath the Arwing and cast another measured glance around the cove, sunlight glinting off the cybernetic optical implant. "I dunno. The SWAT team? Or the band of misfit heroes? Just hard to believe you'd set up this little meeting and not bring any form of backup."

"I seem to recall giving my word," Fox said, a little offended. "I'm not here to fight you or trap you in some way, I just want to talk. After what we've been through, you should know I wouldn't pull that kind of thing now."

"I never know what to expect from you, pup," Wolf said frankly, which Fox found ironic since he could have said the same of Wolf. "I don't know what you're capable of. And I sure as hell don't think it's that easy to sweep a decade of distrust and hostility under the rug."

"What, working together to save all life as we know it isn't enough?" Fox said, cocking his head with a wry look. "Flying our teams together, risking our lives for each other, facing down the worst evil in the universe back to back, none of that makes us best friends forever? Seriously? Sheesh, I feel blindsided now, I was gonna give you a friendship bracelet and everything..."

Unexpectedly, Wolf barked out a laugh. He shook his head and let his shoulders drop from their stiff posture. "And where was this sarcasm all those times we were dogfighting? I can't count the number of times I tried to drag you into some kind of trash talk, and all I got for my effort was that stubborn Hero Face. I was starting to think you had no sense of humor."

Fox just shrugged, smiling a bit, and Wolf returned with a baring of his teeth before he hopped up and grabbed the edge of the wing. He heaved himself up with more practiced grace than Fox could ever manage and stood to his full height, which was not that impressive at all. For some reason Fox had always envisioned Wolf as a hulking brute who would tower over everyone in sight, an image built up in his head over the course of a ten-year grudge and backed by the lupine's menacing reputation. The reality was that Wolf only had a few inches on Fox and the bulk beneath his duster seemed partly enhanced by body armor, though there was no denying the strong muscular frame beneath it, nor the readiness of his stance and the keen intensity in his remaining eye. He looked every inch the battle-hardened mercenary, coarse fur scruffy and unkempt and thinning on his face and throat where the scars of past battles lingered.

"So?" Wolf said, arms crossed in mimicry of Fox. "Gonna say what you came to say, or what?"

 _I'm so glad you're alive,_  Fox thought, but didn't let the unbidden words cross his lips. He doubted Wolf would appreciate the sentiment. Fox himself was taken aback by the strength of the feeling and it left him floundering for a moment, the silence in the cove unnatural as his eardrums gradually recovered from the Wolfen's arrival. He only had a split second to realize that the radio music had stopped as well before the opening chords of the next song warbled out from the cockpit behind him. " _Another dreamer steps onto the stage... He sings his hope and his fear and his rage... As the applause from the crowd start to fade..._ "

"Well?"

"More like something I need to show you," Fox said and reached down into the cockpit, which had an instant effect as Wolf quickly uncrossed his arms and shifted one foot back to let the duster fall partway open, ready to draw the blaster now visible on his hip. Fox froze and held up his free hand in a gesture of peace, very slowly bringing his other hand into the open and showing the harmless tablet. Wolf narrowed his eyes but let his guard drop again as if nothing had happened, curtly snatching the tablet when Fox offered it. He waited with a neutral air as Wolf tapped the screen and scrolled through the text document already displayed. A full ten seconds passed before he ceased his reading and snapped his head up to turn an incredulous look on Fox.

"What the hell is this supposed to be?"

Fox beamed, unable to hold it back any longer. "It's a pardon," he said and had to laugh at Wolf's stupefied reaction. "And also a license to legally practice mercenary work, for you and for Leon and Panther. Approved by General Pepper and a whole bunch of other generals and senators, signed by the President of the Cornerian Commonwealth, yadda yadda...basically, all bounties and criminal charges for the entirety of Team Star Wolf have been dropped, even the war crimes that you were charged with during your service to Andross."

Wolf sputtered, now entirely absorbed in the list of signatures at the bottom of the screen. " _Why?_  The President was calling for my head two months ago! And Pepper's been gunning for me ever since Andross! Why would they...what made them...?"

"Saving the system from certain doom has its benefits, as it turns out," Fox remarked.

Wolf tossed the tablet back at Fox, who quickly caught it, backing away with his jaw clenched tight. "I don't want it," he growled.

"What do you mean you don't want it?" Fox said in slight outrage. "Do you realize how hard it was to set this up? How much convincing it took on my part? It's not the kind of thing you just turn down on a whim!"

"It's not the kind of thing you just  _offer_  on a whim either," Wolf retorted. "What, exactly, is this supposed to change? Sure, the government might've cut the red tape for my team, but that doesn't mean the rest of Lylat will welcome us with open arms. Do you think everyone will just conveniently forget I used to work for the guy who almost tore this system apart? That I've built my entire living on smuggling, piracy, weapons dealing and pretty much any dirty deed that would rake in the money and keep me alive?"

"Maybe not right away," Fox muttered, trying to understand why this had upset Wolf so much. "But...what everyone else thinks doesn't matter. The point is, after all the trouble you went through to help my team, it seemed like the best way to repay you was to give you a second chance..."

"A second chance?" Wolf snarled. "Do you have any idea how goddamn  _demeaning_  that sounds? Coming from  _you?_ "

"You don't have to be happy about it," Fox snapped, reflexively slipping into his leader voice. "But like I said, it's not something you can just turn down. Everything's already been authorized by all the right people and it will probably be publicly announced within the next few days. Anyone who's looking to hire will now find Star Wolf on the official registry of all the private mercenary teams who legally operate in Lylat."

"There's an official registry for that?"

"And," Fox went on, "the dropping of criminal charges begins from the moment you and Panther and Leon are made aware of this document's existence. So as of right now, Wolf O'Donnell is no longer wanted for any crimes related to smuggling or piracy or even jaywalking. He's just another tax-paying, law-abiding citizen like the rest of us."

"Oh boy, don't I feel special?" Wolf said in a tone dripping derision. He readjusted his duster, clearly spitting furious but at least no longer directing it at Fox. "How do you know you can trust me to stay on the right side of the law, then? Maybe I  _like_  this whole life of crime thing I've got going on. Maybe when I'm through here, I'll just go mug an old lady at gunpoint and win back my spot on the top ten Most Wanted list."

" _Have_  you ever mugged an old lady?" Fox asked before he could help it.

"How do you think I lost the eye?" Wolf smirked with such a deadpan tone that Fox couldn't tell if he was joking or not. Wolf paced around, hampered by the narrowness of the wing, and Fox half expected to see him leap to the ground and stalk back to his Wolfen without another word. But he stopped and held out his hand for the tablet, which Fox passed to him and watched as he read over the document more carefully. Multiple emotions flitted across his face, and Fox was taken aback to realize the strongest one beneath his ire was uncertainty. Hesitation. Something he had once chided Fox for having in spades.

"I need to think about this," Wolf said without raising his head. He lowered himself down to take a seat on the edge of the wing, completely uninvited. "I need to talk to my team, I don't know what they'll say to it. No, scratch that, I know exactly what Leon'll say. He'll want to know why we're getting a pat on the back instead of a nice fat paycheck."

Fox blew out a sigh of annoyance and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I asked the same thing. Even though you didn't take an official contract to defend Corneria, there's still a precedent. You should've at least been compensated for expenses, damage to your ships, medical bills, all of it. But Pepper straight up told me that the pardon was as far as the government was willing to go."

"Bureaucrats," Wolf spat. "Figures."

"If it's money you want," Fox began, then faltered when he caught Wolf's full undivided attention. "I can't exactly ask my team to give up any part of their shares, but...I could give you something from mine. Just tell me how much you'd consider fair payment and I'll see what I can do."

The offer hung in the air, and Wolf could not have looked more blankly dubious if he tried. Fox, for his part, was regretting having spoken up in the first place. It wasn't like he had much to spare, and there was also a little panicky voice in his head reminding him that this was  _Wolf O'Donnell_. The man who had been his enemy since he was eighteen and come very close to killing him a dozen times over. The last thing Fox should be worried about was whether or not Wolf and his team were treated justly. But...he reminded himself of how many times Star Wolf had swooped in and covered his team and made victory possible without waiting to be asked, without demanding anything in return. How Wolf had personally saved Fox when it would have been so easy to look the other way and pretend to mourn with everyone else once the dust settled.

"You're dead serious, aren't you?" Wolf asked with muted amazement.

"You didn't have to risk yourself for my team," Fox said, uncomfortably aware of how much he truly owed Wolf. He ducked his head, but then made himself look Wolf in the eye again. "You didn't have to catch me when I fell. I'm not just going to pretend that never happened or even that I would've done the same thing in your place. I know me, and I know I might've hesitated where you didn't."

"...takes guts to admit that to my face," Wolf said in a low voice.

"And it makes me sick to admit it to myself," Fox confessed. "So just...name your price, alright? I want things settled between us."

"Keep your money," Wolf said brusquely. When Fox stared at him, Wolf shrugged one shoulder and glanced the other way. "I get by fine on my own, I don't need your damn charity."

Fox opened and shut his mouth a few times, relieved to be let off the hook but also put out. He shuffled closer and took a seat beside Wolf, pondering the problem at hand and glaring sidelong at his rival. "It doesn't feel right. I need to repay you  _somehow_."

"Thought that's what the pardon was for?"

"That was Corneria's repayment, not mine."

"Heh," Wolf chuckled and tossed him a sly grin. "You just can't stand the thought of being in my debt, can you?"

"No, I really can't," Fox grumbled, and Wolf laughed again. His muzzle wrinkled and one of his ears flicked in aggravation. "Come on, Wolf..."

Wolf waved his hand and recovered from his bout of mirth. "Alright, alright, let me think," he said, casting his gaze around the cove and seeming to make a show of mulling over his options. But then his grin slipped into a more serious look, one claw trailing over the cybernetic hardware strapped to his head. "Slippy Toad," he muttered.

"Uh...come again?"

"The frog has connections with Space Dynamics, right?" Wolf said, suddenly intent. "They do more than just weapons and spacecraft. They've also got people devoted to applying their newfangled technology to the medical field. Surgical nanobots, prosthetic limbs...cybernetic implants."

Fox blinked. "You want a new optical implant? Is there something wrong with that one?"

Wolf snorted. "Yeah, it's cheap. Beggars can't be choosers on the black market. I only got this model because I couldn't afford better, but I'd rather have the kind that actually looks like an eyeball unless you get right in my face. And  _custom_  design, not those shitty mass-produced ones right off the production line."

"That's...way more expensive than cutting you a check," Fox said uneasily.

"You said to name my price," Wolf challenged him. "Are you saying you're not as good as your word?"

Fox held his gaze for a long moment, weighing the difficulties of what Wolf was asking against his own ethical code and seeing no way to back out without proving himself both a cheapskate and a complete ass. Now he was  _really_ glad he hadn't bought a new ring for Krystal. "Alright. I'll get in touch with Slippy, and he'll get the ball rolling. It'll probably take a lot of back and forth to hash out the exact design you want, then a lot of trial and error before they have a working prototype, and  _then_  the actually fitting and installation..."

"I know all that," Wolf huffed. "I've jumped through these hoops before. I've got time."

"And don't worry about the cost," Fox added, trying very hard not to balk at his own words. "I'll work it out somehow. Once they see my name on the bill, they'll probably throw in a discount anyway."

"Saving the system from certain doom has its perks, huh?" Wolf quoted. He held out his hand for Fox to shake, which he did with some reluctance, though the thought of his draining bank account paled in comparison to the genuine smile that crossed Wolf's face and made him appear young and carefree. He returned the tablet to Fox and reclined back on his elbows. "This might be a good year for me," he murmured.

"It's a good year for everyone, I think," Fox said with a smile of his own. He drew one knee up and rested his arm on it, letting the other leg dangle off the edge as the conversation lapsed, neither man showing any inclination to break the peaceful moment. Fox considered making a snide joke about taking up space on his wing or just outright saying that his team was waiting and it was time to go. But that would require him to actually start up his Arwing and fly back to the city and his complicated life, rocky relationship and all.

Fox grimaced. No, not yet. He needed a little more time to ground himself and avert this premature midlife crisis thing he had going on. Once his head was clear of the clouds, he would think about going back, but until then he wanted to stay here a little longer. With Wolf. Now  _that_  was a strange thing. Somehow he found it more appealing to chat with a former nemesis than to propose to his girlfriend.

He peeked at Wolf out of the corner of his eye, that newfound sentiment swelling in his chest as something else more rancorous withered and died with barely a sigh.  _I don't hate him anymore._  It was an incredible thing to realize, bittersweet but so much more cathartic and liberating than he ever expected. It wasn't so much that Wolf had redeemed himself or earned his forgiveness, but that Fox had finally overcome the deep wounds he had been nursing ever since his father's death, the ugly need for a convenient target to heap his own bitter feelings upon. Pigma had betrayed James, an act which had directly led to his imprisonment and execution by Andross, but Wolf had merely been a hired gun at the time. A tool and a propaganda magnet even as Fox had been for Corneria, boasted to be the ace for Venom and the one who would bring down the McCloud legacy. But in the end, no such prophecy had come to pass, and now here they were. It would accomplish nothing to keep blaming Wolf for the sins of the dead.

"This music sucks," Wolf informed him.

Fox chuckled, the offhand comment so out of line with his train of thought that he couldn't help it. "Yeah, it kind of does. I think the playlist must have been a gift from a fan or something. There's no way I picked this out on my own."

"Don't blame your crappy taste on the fans," Wolf chided him with a wink. "Show some appreciation. You're Corneria's golden boy again, the one and only celebrity who's actually done something worthwhile for this system."

Fox pulled a face. "I'm not a  _celebrity_. I'm just...someone who was in the right place at the right time. There's nothing to celebrate about that."

Wolf heaved a deeply patronizing sigh. "Please tell me you're not about to go on a bitchy, ungrateful rant about how being famous and loved by everyone ain't all it's cracked up to be? That nobody  _understands_  you and nobody wants you for anything but the  _money_  and the  _name_ , and that you'd rather just be a  _normal_  person for once in your life?"

"...it's really  _not_  all it's cracked up to be," Fox muttered after a moment. "But I'd rather be famous and free to fly my Arwing than stuck in some pointless mundane existence with three kids to feed and no hope of ever getting my feet off the ground."

He hadn't meant to say it with such spite, and it felt like a betrayal to Krystal to say it at all. He could feel that damn ring burning a hole in his pocket, and Fox mentally ran through his list of reasons for the thousandth time. He loved Krystal, that was number one. He was at a good place in his life to retire, that was number two. And it wasn't like he would  _never_ fly again. There were always jobs for commercial and test pilots or instructors at the Flight Academy. And marriage and parenthood was supposedly fulfilling in its own ways, not that Fox had ever really put his mind to it.

"If I had a drink in my hand, I'd toast to that," Wolf said, and when Fox looked again, the lupine was regarding him with surprising warmth. "Kinda funny. For some reason I always figured you only flew because your daddy did. You know, taking the easy road, following in the family business, that kind of thing. And I figured you were only as good as you were because you had your betters looking out for you, and you were pushing yourself to avenge him. Or something."

Fox ducked his head, depressed at the mention of James. "That was part of it. Losing him the way I did...it definitely pushed me to be  _better_. I improved more in those months of frantic training than either Peppy or I expected. But I think I would've gotten there on my own eventually, even if my father hadn't been who he was. I don't blame you for thinking I was just a daddy's boy though. That's what a lot of people think. And to be completely honest...I thought  _you_  only flew as well as you did because of the paycheck and a sadistic urge to blow people up. That, and I figured you had some fancy computer compensating for your blind side."

"Watch it," Wolf said, scowling darkly, ears laid flat. "I  _earned_ my place in the sky, and once the eye was gone, I had to earn it all over again. I slaved and fought and  _bled_  for the chance to sit my ass in a cockpit. Not just for the paycheck or the chance to blow shit up, and not even for the rank and respect that came with it. I never needed anyone to show me the way to the stars. I just..."

"Loved it," Fox whispered.

"Yeah," Wolf said just as softly. His ears cautiously lifted and perked toward Fox, their gazes meeting in a secret shared kinship, as if they were each seeing their own reflection beneath the superficial surface details. Fox traced his eyes over the features of Wolf's face and found himself pondering what he would look like with a true optical implant in place of that bulky cybernetic monstrosity. Fox had never known him with both eyes intact, but it was remarkably easy to envision. It might drop his badass quotient by half, but in return it would restore some symmetry to his face and make him appear less intimidating, more approachable to the innocent bystander. Still scarred and somewhat rough around the edges, but in a way that was appealing rather than repulsive.

_Oh wow, I'm glad Krystal didn't hear that..._

"Like what you see?"

"What?" Fox said inelegantly, confused at first, and realized he had been caught. "N-No, I was just letting my mind wander."

"Sure, I'll buy that excuse," Wolf snickered and tipped his head toward Fox, the real eye lazily raking over him from head to toe. Fox flattened his ears and forced himself to stare off at the uninteresting treeline, an electric thrill racing along his nerves and followed immediately after by skepticism. Wolf was just messing with him again, that was all, and Fox refused to rise to the bait. He opened his mouth to change the subject and hopefully redirect that fiery gaze, but was interrupted by the buzzing comm in his pocket. Fox fished it out and glowered at the brief message from Falco before switching it to silent and tossing both comm and tablet back into the cockpit, aware of Wolf watching him curiously the whole time.

"Late for something?"

"Just the team wondering where I'm at," Fox said with a shrug. "I told them I'd be awhile, but I guess they took that to mean  _'Please check up on me every five minutes_.'"

Wolf stared at him, eyebrows arching high in disbelief. "You didn't tell them you're meeting with me?"

"Hell no, knowing how they'd react?" Fox said with a snort. Despite having flown with Star Wolf several times during the war with the Aparoids, most of his team would not have looked kindly on him having a private meeting with Wolf. Not at  _all_. Slippy would have stuttered and fretted and most likely told on him to Peppy, who would have lectured and urged extreme caution with much hemming and hawing. Falco would have skipped all words and knocked him upside the head, then gone in his place and done the same to Wolf. Krystal, naturally, had known his plans before he said them, but as the sole member of Star Fox who hadn't seen the atrocities of the Lylat War, she harbored no ill feelings for Star Wolf. She had even said to Fox outright that Wolf, at least, deserved the chance to redeem himself and rise above his criminal past. Fox hadn't been curious enough at the time to ask  _why_  she thought that, but now he wondered...

"You  _seriously_  came here without telling your team?" Wolf repeated, as if repetition would somehow alter the answer. "Even knowing our history? Did it ever occur to you that I might use this little truce to my advantage?"

"You haven't killed me or kidnapped me yet," Fox said with cheerful bravado. Catching the sudden gleam in Wolf's eye, he stiffened and quickly added, "Not that you could if you tried."

"Oh,  _couldn't_  I?" Wolf said with a predatory grin. It didn't help that said grin was accompanied by another  _look_  that made Fox quiver inside and twitch his tail nervously. "You never know, McCloud. I might be biding my time here. I could have a hypodermic in my pocket that I'm just  _itching_  to jab into your neck."

"You're all talk, O'Donnell," Fox said, though he couldn't help edging away. "If you wanted me dead, you'd have done it from the sky without giving me a chance to fight back. If you wanted to kidnap me for ransom or..."

"Ransom, are you kidding me?" Wolf interrupted. "Do you know how  _hard_ it would be to collect a ransom on you? Corneria would pull out all the stops to rescue you and hunt me down, not to mention your team and every other bounty hunter and vigilante with a shred of decency to their name. I'd go from notorious to downright reviled in one night and probably revoke my pardon while I'm at it. It's really not worth it to kidnap you...except maybe for my own sick amusement."

"Well... _that_  makes me feel better," Fox said doubtfully. He frowned. "Did you tell  _your_  team that you were meeting with me?"

"'Course I did," Wolf said like he was being deliberately stupid. "For all I knew, you had an ambush set up and a black ops team waiting to haul me off to prison. I had to take  _some_ precautions. I've actually got Panther shadowing your team right now, wherever they're at. If he and Leon don't hear from me by midnight, then he's under strict orders to kidnap your girlfriend."

" _What_ , why Krystal?" Fox cried in outrage.

"Obvious reasons are obvious," Wolf told him. "She's your girlfriend, therefore you would give up anything to get her back, including your own worst enemy. Why? Who would you  _rather_  I have him kidnap?"

"Falco," Fox said at once, "because I have reasonable faith that he could kick Caroso's ass and escape without a scratch."

"I would  _pay_ to see that fight," Wolf laughed. Taking notice of Fox's glare, he waved his hand. "Oh, relax already. It's pretty clear by now you're not planning anything underhanded, so the worst Panther will do is watch her creepily from a distance. Your team won't even notice he's there."

Fox shook his head with utter certainty. "Krystal will know. She's complained to me so many times about the...ideas running through Panther's mind that she's probably got his thought patterns down like the back of her hand. She'll pick him out in a crowd even if he's fifty feet away and shoot him long before he even  _thinks_  of cornering her or dosing her drink or whatever he's got up his sleeve."

Wolf whistled. "Now  _that's_  impressive. Where can I get my own blue-furred telepath? She's gotta be hell for anyone your team goes up against in the field, like built in radar and clairvoyant and turncoat detector all in one."

"She's not a  _tool_ ," Fox retorted. "She's a person with unique skills like the rest of us."

"Well in that case, I hope you're treating her well," Wolf said with a leering look. "Backrubs and foot massages every night, sappy romantic gifts out of nowhere, that kind of thing. I'd hate to think she's  _wasting_ her talent on such a crappy boyfriend and might one day start looking to where the grass is greener. Maybe even to a newly-pardoned mercenary team in dire need of a fourth pilot..."

Fox shoved a hand in his pocket and yanked out the ring box, thrusting it in Wolf's face with a withering glare. " _That_  romantic enough for you?"

Wolf paused and did a double take, the one eye going wide as all humor slipped away. He reached out and, when Fox didn't rebuke him, took the box and flicked it open to behold the sparkling ring inside. He whistled again. "Dead serious, pup? You and her, taking the big leap?"

Fox gave a tentative nod and meant to leave it at that. But he took one look at Wolf and let his shoulders slump...and he began to talk. He kept talking for a long time, until the sun listed beneath the horizon and Fox had to pause to retrieve a handheld camp torch from the cockpit so they could see each other. He talked far longer than he should have, even knowing on some level that Krystal would not appreciate him explaining their whole story from start to present, laying out their arguments and issues plainly. Her refusal to let him protect her and his growing resentment of that fact. His hopes for some kind of future together clashing with his dread of what the change would mean for  _his_  future and the rest of Star Fox.

And to his great surprise and relief, Wolf listened. He hardly spoke a word throughout and never raised his eye from the ring in his hand, but he quietly listened to every word and nodded or frowned when appropriate. Fox could not have said for the life of him why he was pouring out these confessions to someone who would have gladly killed him a few short months ago, someone who could find any number of ways to use this deeply personal information against him. But somewhere along the way—somewhere in between leaping off that roof to the waiting wing of a Wolfen and facing down the Aparoid queen with the words  _don't hesitate_ ringing in his mind—he had lost his fear as well as his hatred. And he desperately needed someone to lend him a fresh set of eyes on the situation, someone who was not a part of the whole mess and had no real investment in how it would turn out.

"I just...I don't know if I'm doing this for the right reasons," Fox concluded. "I can't even figure out if I made the right decision when I asked her to stop flying on missions. I was only thinking about her safety at the time, and I thought she'd be happy to get away from the danger. But the way she reacted...I guess I never realized how important it was to her. To be a part of the team, I mean."

Wolf snapped the box shut and passed it back to him, then flopped down on his back with his arms folded behind his head. "So let her keep flying, what's the big deal? I don't see why you'd want to make her a housewife anyway when she's a much better asset in the air."

"Weren't you listening?" Fox snapped. "I can't handle her being out there! I can't focus on the mission at hand when I constantly worry my girlfriend's about to be shot out of the sky!"

"So then, kick her off the team. No need to ground yourself along with her."

"I  _can't,_ " Fox said miserably. He fiddled with the box and clasped his fingers around it hard. "She'd hate me forever, and the rest of the team wouldn't..."

"Who  _cares_  what the rest of your team says?" Wolf said, visibly annoyed. "You're their commander, aren't you? Or are you one of those democratic idiots who puts every decision up to majority vote?"

"And besides," Fox whispered, sensing the heavy bars of guilt and obligation closing in on all sides, "what would Krystal do without the rest of us? Where would she go? How would she  _live?_  Her home planet is gone and Star Fox is all she has left.  _I'm_  all she has, and I've never...never had someone depend on me like...I need to take care of her, I  _promised_  her that she'd never be alone again. Not after what happened to her family."

Wolf groaned and rolled toward Fox. "That's your problem, right there. You've won two wars in a row and probably saved millions while you're at it, and now you think it's your duty and God-given right to police the universe and rescue every downtrodden soul in your path. Maybe one of these days you'll get it through your skull that you're  _not_  some kind of saint or chosen one and it's  _not your_ _job_  to make all the sacrifices and keep everybody happy. Least of all a clingy girlfriend, who I'm guessing isn't half so fragile as you're making her out to be."

Fox glared at him. "I'm her boyfriend. Keeping her happy is my  _only_  job."

"So break up with her, problem solved," Wolf said with a flick of his hand. "Give her a few days to cry over it, a few more to burn your pictures and vandalize your ride, and before you know it she'll be back on her feet and flaunting a new beau in your face. That should take care of your other problem too. By the time you go on another mission, you'll be so pissed off that you won't  _care_ if her ship blows up."

Fox let out a frustrated snarl and raked his hands through the fur on his head. "I'm trying to  _avoid_  breaking up with her! You're not helping, Wolf!"

"What do I look like, a couples' therapist?" Wolf snapped. "My longest relationship lasted a solid three months, not counting an extended phase of on again, off again. And God knows I'd have been gone a lot sooner if he tried to slap a ring on me and tell me not to fly anymore."

Fox opened his mouth and shut it again in bewilderment.  _He?_   Wolf glared at him sidelong and curled his lip as if to say  _Yeah, so?_   Fox cleared his throat and forced himself not to comment. He of all people was in no position to judge, considering his experimental adolescence...and a few other times beyond that. All before Krystal, of course. Even in this day and age, that wasn't the sort of behavior befitting a celebrated hero.

"What I'm saying is," Wolf went on as if there had been no pause, "I like my freedom too much to give up any part of my life for someone else. And I just don't  _get_  why you're beating yourself up so much over one person. Are you  _that_ in love with her?"

"Of course I love her!" Fox said, furious that the question needed to be asked. And twice as furious that the answer felt contrived and forced from his mouth as if from a script. "I've loved her almost from the moment I saw her! What else do you want me to say? That I can't imagine my life without her? That I'd do anything, give up  _anything_  to keep her safe, even if it means disbanding Star Fox?"

"Well, that would be a  _start_ ," Wolf said snidely. "But if it's really that simple, then why are you saying it to me instead of her? Why haven't you hopped in your Arwing and spelled it out in the sky for everyone to see? What's the  _real_  reason that's making you hesitate?"

Fox opened his mouth...and he froze up, part of him wanting to snap back that Wolf had it all wrong. There was nothing more to his indecision than the usual cold feet that people experienced before such big leaps in life. He would get over it. He  _had_  to because it was the only path forward for the two of them. At least the only path that wouldn't lead to disappointment, heartbreak, loneliness...

Krystal.

He started and shut his mouth. Up until now he had only been thinking of the consequences as they applied to Krystal.  _Her_  disappointment,  _her_  heartbreak and loneliness. Not his. Fox turned those thoughts further inward, troubled as he explored this sudden clarity and for the first time considered what breaking up with Krystal would mean to  _him_. Not to her, not to the team, not to the rest of the universe at large, but just him. Fox frowned. He would be...hurt, yes. Possibly angry and upset with himself for not trying harder, perhaps lonely for a time and immensely guilty on top of that. The others would think he had lost his mind...after all,  _they_  had been the very first to play matchmaker in the beginning. Between Falco's constant jibes and Peppy's knowing looks, Slippy's blatant insistence that he just ask her out already, and even ROB's offer to research the mating cycles of Cerinian vixens, Fox had found himself ambushed and outnumbered.

And maybe that was the whole problem. Krystal had wanted him from the start, and fate and everyone else had conspired to throw them together while Fox himself had been the only one with any objections to speak of. But the simple truth was...it wouldn't destroy him to break it off with Krystal. Her absence wouldn't rend his heart and shatter his soul, nor leave him an inconsolable wreck with no reason or will to live. He would not be heartbroken, at least not to the extent that he felt he  _should_ be. And now that the idea was in his head, Fox found himself secretly reflecting on how much  _easier_ it would be to stuff the ring in a drawer and tell her it was over. That elusive vision of an altar and a blushing bride was so difficult to hold onto, overshadowed by memories of soaring among the stars, the team at his back and the mission before him, the purpose of his life so easy and clear. The freedom of it, the love of the sky which always called him back...

"So you're only marrying her because you're afraid of losing her, is that it?" Wolf said, oblivious to the turmoil in Fox's head. "You've been with her for so long that you've forgotten how to function by yourself, and it scares the hell out of you to shake up your perfect little world with something as ugly as a breakup. That's a really shitty reason to stay with someone."

"What other reason is there?" Fox said without thinking. "I mean...that's kind of the point, isn't it? To keep from ending up alone?"

"Oh, hell if I know," Wolf muttered. "Like I said, I'm no relationship expert. But I heard a pretty good quote once that might apply here. It went something like... 'You know you love someone when you could spend an eternity in hell with them...and believe the whole time that you're in heaven.'"

Fox furrowed his brow and felt his lips twist downward. "That's morbid."

"And about as upfront as you can get," Wolf countered with sudden, inexplicable fervor. "The way I see it, it means you can look at the person next to you and think to yourself  _all this pain is worth it._ Every shitstorm that life ever threw at you, it's worth it to look at that person and know they're still right there and willing to go the distance. So can you say that about her?"

"No," Fox breathed, which appeared to shock Wolf enough that he was struck dumb. "I...really can't say that."

He heard Wolf shift at his side and sit up quickly, the uneasy look on his face partly hidden from the dim glow of the camp torch. "Uh...okay, wow. Shit. I really did not mean to talk you into dumping your girlfriend."

Fox shook his head, about to say that Wolf had said nothing he wasn't already thinking himself. But he held back and flicked open the box to stare at the ring again. Imagining her expression at the sight of him going to one knee and finding that a whole lot easier to stomach than the thought of her reaction to the opposite. What was  _wrong_  with him? After everything he and Krystal had been through, all the promises they had made in each other's arms, how could he dare to consider throwing it away and not even be the slightest bit unhappy about it? What kind of a person would that make him? His own selfish needs just weren't reason enough to cause her that much pain or to throw away a relationship he had invested so much in.

 _And I love her,_  Fox reminded himself pitifully, ashamed that it wasn't the first thought on his mind. Wasn't that the whole reason he was considering the end of his career in the first place, so that he wouldn't have to risk losing her? For God's sake, he couldn't even fly his damn Arwing without fearing for her life. He would be devastated if anything happened to her...but then, the same could be said of any one of his teammates. The only difference being that he had no control over Slippy and Falco and Peppy, no right to dictate how and when they risked their lives. He couldn't protect them the way he was trying to protect Krystal. The way he felt he  _had_ to protect her. That overwhelming urge, rooted deep in his heart ever since the day they met on Sauria, was not so easily cast aside.

"...I'm not going to break up with her," Fox said after a long moment of painful indecision followed by even more agonizing acceptance. He slipped the ring in his pocket and dredged up a rueful smile from somewhere. "If I wanted to get out, the time to do it was long before now. Even if I don't feel like I'm ready, I know  _she's_ probably ready, and that should be good enough. And I think...we could be happy together, if we both work at it and make some compromises."

Wolf grunted and was silent for a moment, and it was a silence heavy with doubt. "Sounds to me like  _you're_  the one making all those compromises. But whatever, it's not my business. You go right ahead and do the whole wife-and-kids thing, you damn martyr. But don't come whining to me when you're up to your ears in cubs and wishing I'd put you out of your misery when I had the chance."

"Nah, just wait," Fox joked feebly. "I'll be one of those insanely annoying dads who pushes photos of his kids onto everyone he meets. All you poor bachelors will  _despise_  me."

Wolf smirked faintly and clambered to his feet. And for some unfathomable reason, he reached down and ruffled the fur on Fox's head. "You'll have to remember to send me some of those pics. Though I shudder to think...blue and orange? Your kids'll either be turd-brown or the gayest shade of purple in existence, and I have a hard time deciding which is worse."

Fox made a face, both at the comment and at the tingly warmth evoked by the brief touch on his head. He stood up as well, sensing the end of the conversation at hand and scrambling for some way to put off saying goodbye. "Can I ask...what do you think you'll do now that you've been pardoned? Will Star Wolf keep flying?"

"If anyone's willing to give us a chance," Wolf said with a gusty sigh. "If not...I might just try my luck at flying solo. It'll be different though. If I want to stay pardoned, I'll have to screen potential employers more carefully, not just blindly accept whatever guarantees the next meal. Heh. I'll actually have to be  _responsible_. Been awhile since that happened."

"You could always retire," Fox suggested. "Find some other way to make your living..."

But Wolf shook his head. "Thought I made it clear by now. People like me don't retire, McCloud. The sky is where I was born, and it's where I plan to die."

Fox blinked and grinned in nostalgia. "My dad said something like that once. He told me he planned to keep flying until he was in his nineties and to hell with anyone who told him to retire. He'd fly until the universe forced him to stop. I always thought I'd be the same way, but...well now look at me."

"Yeah," Wolf murmured, catching his eye with an impassive look. "You know...you never did ask me why I bothered to save you that day. Why I didn't just let you fall and go splat on the ground."

Fox tilted his head curiously, but said nothing. The question had honestly never occurred to him until now.

Wolf crossed his arms and looked off into the trees. "I've made a lot of enemies in my time. You weren't the first or the most dangerous, but you were definitely the most irritating. I hated you for so long because no matter how many times I tried, you kept coming back for more and you just wouldn't goddamn  _die_. You always showed up at the worst possible times, it got to the point where every time I flew, I had to look over my shoulder just to make  _sure_  you weren't about to sneak up on me...what're you smirking at?"

Fox bit the inside of his cheek, but couldn't quite banish the ironic smile. "You just described word for word how I felt about you for the longest time. Would it surprise you to know that, for months after the war, I had more nightmares about Star Wolf than about Andross and all his bioweapons put together?"

"Haha, oh  _really?_ " Wolf said with such deep satisfaction that Fox punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Don't take it the wrong way. My pride just couldn't take the thought of being outflown by a pilot with only one goddamn eye. I'm pretty sure my dad would've popped out of his grave and whooped my ass himself if that happened."

Wolf shrugged. "Point taken. Well then, don't take  _this_ the wrong way...I saved you because it didn't feel right to just sit back and let you bite the dust in such a stupid way. We've been at this for so long, you and me, always gunning for each other no matter who else was in the fight or what was at stake. People call us bitter rivals, but...I mean, for me at least...it's gotten to be a lot more than that. It's like...it defined me somehow. Just knowing there was somebody like you out there, it gave me something to measure myself against, and I knew that once you were gone, I'd never have that again. I'd never meet another soul who could give me even  _half_  the challenge you did. And all I could think was...you deserved better."

The sincerity and traces of real affection beneath the gruff words was the very last thing Fox expected and it probably should have weirded him out, especially when Wolf started to fidget and glance aside like he had said something shameful. But instead it warmed him. There was truth in those words, a truth that Fox had only ever acknowledged in his own mind and never dared to say aloud for fear of how very real it felt. But now...the time was right. It seemed fitting to put it into words for once, how much he and Wolf cared for each other in their own uniquely messed up way.

"Thanks, Wolf. It just hit me I haven't really said that yet."

"Don't mention it," Wolf muttered. "Really, don't. My reputation depends on it."

"You know," Fox said quietly, hands slipped in his pockets, "I think you're right. There's no real word for what we are because it's always been more complicated than a straightforward rivalry. Back on the Aparoid homeworld, after the queen went down and the planet was destroyed, there was a minute when I thought your team didn't make it out. And all I felt was...well, I couldn't really feel anything. I was numb. I couldn't make myself believe it. I remember saying to myself,  _He can't be gone, it can't be over, not like that_ , and I kept thinking of all the things I should've said to you while I had the chance, before it was too late."

"Yeah? Like what?"

Fox faltered, then grinned. "I think I've said most of it since we've been here. And what's left doesn't matter."

Wolf eyed him with a trace of skepticism. "Guess I'll take your word for it," he said and held out his hand for Fox. "Well then. This is the part where I say  _it's been fun_ , but that seems kind of trite."

Fox snickered. "And this is the part where I say  _don't miss me too much_ , but I doubt you will."

"Don't be so sure," Wolf murmured as their hands clasped, and without warning Fox found himself yanked into a strong hug. Fox  _oofed_  in surprise, chin perched on Wolf's shoulder, unnerved by the sudden proximity and the strength of the grip Wolf had on him, swamped by the foreign scent of lupine.

"Uhhh...what's this for?"

"Eh," Wolf replied, the rumbled word sending a thrum through Fox's being. "Seemed right, I guess. If we're never going to fly together again...if that fight at the homeworld was really the last time..."

There was something very depressing about the way he let the words trail off, and Fox found his throat becoming tight without knowing why, a profound sadness taking hold. He returned the embrace, tentative at first but quickly losing his reservations, and let his eyes drift up to the stars. Reflecting on how much he would miss seeing them up close. "It won't be the last time," he whispered.  _I'll find my way back there again. No matter what it takes, I won't let anything stop me._

"Hope so," Wolf breathed, almost inaudible. "I can't imagine the sky without you."

Fox smiled and pulled back a little. "Are you always this...?" he began, but never finished the comment because Wolf had drawn back and turned his head at the same time, their faces near enough so that their breath mingled, arms loosely wrapped around each other. And Fox knew in the back of his mind that he should step away, put some distance between them, but he couldn't remember why. It was hard to remember anything now that they were this close. Close enough to hear Wolf catch his breath, to count the stars reflected in his eye and register the dozens of emotions flitting across his face, from suspicion to confusion to something else deeper and more enthralling. Something that made his pulse quicken and his head spin, little shivers racing up his spine as Wolf made an abortive motion to lean in, and Fox impulsively met him halfway as the radio music kicked into a chorus and the female singer wailed her longing to the void.

" _I don't know who I am anymore! Not once in life have I been real, but I've never felt this close before..._ "

It had been a long, long time since he had been kissed like this. The observation flitted in and out of his head so fast that Fox nearly failed to process it, too wrapped up in giddy sensation to bother with such higher thought. His fingers clutched at the back of Wolf's duster, head tilting further up as their lips moved together like they had done this a thousand times before, heated and hungry, yet at the same time slow and savoring. Fox was gasping by the time they broke apart with a wet sound. Wolf let his eye flutter wide open, equally stunned, and it was quite apparent that he hadn't planned this any more than Fox.

"Holy shit," Fox panted, licking his lips, unsure of the new taste in his mouth. "That...that was..."

"Yeah," Wolf agreed softly. "That was...something else."

They stared at each other carefully, neither daring to blink, and for a split second Fox was back in the sky again, soaring headlong toward an enemy fighter with charged lasers and his finger on the trigger, waiting to see who would take the first step their deadly dance. He was shaking, he realized belatedly, but not from fear or dread or blind fury. In the absence of those usual emotions that Wolf tended to inspire, Fox was at a loss, wholly unprepared for the surge of excitement and helpless  _want_  that stormed his walls and brought them all crashing down, frightening and formidable like being caught in the gravity well of a supernova. The only dazed thought in his head as Wolf drew him near, as their lips met again, was  _Why have we never done this before...?_

Wolf groaned, the sound low and needy and so alien coming from him. His hands shifted lower to ghost along Fox's hips and backside, one hand stroking his tail possessively, a move of dominance that would normally have put Fox's hackles up, made him feel trapped, but in that instant he had never felt more free. His arms snaked up around Wolf's neck and held on tight, marveling at how their bodies seemed to  _fit_  together and wishing there were less layers in the way of his own roaming hands. He couldn't get enough and couldn't fathom how it had taken him this long. Why had he never noticed before? Why had he never bothered to look little deeper, beyond all the swagger and the scars, and actually  _see_  Wolf?

Because he was an idiot, that was why. A blind idiot who couldn't see what was right in front of him until it forcibly grabbed him and opened his eyes in the most breathtaking way possible. Not even his first kiss with Krystal had been so...

Krystal.

_Shit!_

"Shit!" Fox gasped and shoved away from Wolf with all his strength, nearly tumbling into the cockpit. Wolf also staggered, but quickly regained his balance and watched as Fox turned away and proceeded to freak out, grabbing the open canopy for balance and raking his other hand through the fur on his head. "I...oh goddamn it, what's wrong with me? I can't...shit!  _Shit!_  Why did I do that? What the hell  _was_  that?"

"Well, if I had to guess," Wolf said with deliberate slowness, the corner of his lip twitching, "I'd say that was you coming on to me in the strongest way possible. I could be wrong though. Maybe you tripped and fell right into my arms and I misread the whole thing. But then how to explain the tongue in my mouth...?"

"Shut up!"

"Oh,  _that's_  mature."

"Shut  _up_ ," Fox ground out with as much command as he could muster. Not easy when his body was still tingling and he felt bit nauseous, caught between wanting to ravage Wolf some more and wanting to kick his ass and leave him bleeding. He breathed hard, forced himself to think of Krystal, and that somehow gave him the strength to resist both impulses. "You need to leave. Right now."

Wolf grinned, the harsh words having no effect, and Fox swore he was doing it on purpose. Standing there looking so smug and effortlessly attractive, every little detail drawing his eye and adding more allure to the overall picture. The strong hands and wickedly sharp claws, the defined muscles beneath the clothes and armor, the softer tuft of white fur peeking out at the hollow of his throat in sharp contrast to the gray around it, tempting Fox to bury his nose there and just  _inhale..._

"What's the matter,  _McCloud?_ " Wolf purred as if he knew exactly what Fox was thinking. And he was so damn pleased with himself too, like he had achieved some astounding victory, which in turn only infuriated Fox even more. "Never kissed a guy before?"

"Not when I was already in a committed relationship!" Fox blurted out, furious and mortified, but his ire broke for a brief moment in favor of shame and a powerful new fear. "Oh no...no, it's in my head now. I can't hide it, she'll  _know_. She's going to kill me, flat out  _kill_  me..."

"Tabloids tomorrow oughta be a fun read," Wolf snickered. He held up air quotes with his fingers. "I can see the headlines now. 'McCloud and O'Donnell, the steamiest scandal of the century! Sorry ladies, maybe next time...'"

"This is your fault!" Fox shouted. "Because of this, now she'll probably break up with me on the spot and all that time I spent psyching myself up will be for nothing!"

Wolf burst out laughing, the most genuine reaction that Fox had seen thus far. "Oh please, don't even  _try_  to pin this on me! You think I came here planning to sit down and listen to your sob story and end up molested for my trouble? You think I woke up this morning and said to myself,  _Hey let's REALLY fuck with McCloud and sabotage his plans to pop the question!_ "

"Wouldn't put it past you," Fox grumbled.

"And besides," Wolf interrupted, "if I  _really_  wanted to seduce you, I wouldn't have wasted so much time talking. We'd be screwing in my Wolfen right this minute."

Fox snorted and tried  _very_  hard not to react to the crude suggestion, despite his own body betraying him with a flare of heat in the pit of his stomach. "God, you're arrogant. You couldn't get me in your Wolfen if someone was  _paying_  you."

"...you think so?"

" _Yes_ ," Fox said, not liking the way Wolf was looking at him. Hating how exposed it made him feel, how weak in the knees, and he forced himself to stand his ground and not quail back as Wolf stalked closer, each step measured and full of intent. He thought Wolf would make a grab for him, but he merely set his hand on the canopy beside Fox's head and left it there, deliberately invading his personal space and looming in a way that most would find intimidating. But most were not the leader of Star Fox and a veteran of two wars. Fox looked him dead in the eye, teeth bared, and silently dared him to try something. Anything.  _Anything_  to break the tension and torrid heat between them, any excuse to turn away and jump into his Arwing and fly off into the dark sky where none could make him feel so unmanned.

 _The leader of my own mercenary team and a veteran of two wars,_  Fox thought with sour irony.  _Yet THIS is the fight I want most to run away from._

Wolf tilted his head. Fox flinched and very nearly lashed out with his fist, but Wolf only peeked over his shoulder at the open cockpit behind him. "Hmm...you might have a point. That seat in your Arwing looks  _much_  more comfortable. Maybe I should pick you up and throw you in there?"

"Try it," Fox snarled viciously. "See what happens."

Wolf chuckled and pulled back, the lust from before now cooled to an ember, and he smiled softly in a way that Fox couldn't read. "I always liked that about you," he murmured. "How you never let anybody push you around. Not even me."

Before Fox could work out what to make of that, Wolf turned and strode away with a relaxed air. Fox watched him go with a stunned feeling and a trickle of disappointment, the wind snatched from his sails. He had braced himself for some kind of attack or argument, for the kind of titanic struggle reminiscent of the duels that he and Wolf had once engaged in. Even another kiss would have been reasonable and expected, if not entirely wanted. This abrupt surrender seemed very wrong somehow.

"Wait. That's  _it?_ "

"What, you were expecting more?" Wolf asked. He gripped the edge of the wing and swung down to the ground, the touchdown a little less fluid this time as he seemed to misjudge the distance and landed much harder than necessary. "Ouch! Damn Arwings..."

"Hold on!" Fox demanded. He crouched at the edge of the wing. "You can't just...we're not done here! You can't pull something like that and then walk away like nothing happened!"

"Yet look at what I'm doing," Wolf declared. He flexed his ankle to be sure there had been no damage before setting his weight on it carefully, only then regarding Fox with a tired shake of his head. "Look, we've established that we're kind of hot for each other—completely out of left field, but there it is. But I'm not into three-ways, and I'm pretty sure you're not the type to cheat on the one you're with, so there's no point in trying to start anything now. Least not while you've still got that ring in your pocket..."

" _I am NOT throwing away what I have with Krystal for a fling with YOU!_ " Fox roared.

"Who says it would be a fling?"

Fox dropped his jaw, struck dumb for the third time in ten minutes. His initial gut reaction was to scoff and dismiss it, but one look at Wolf told him something else entirely. There was nothing guarded or hidden there, just a kind of wordless challenge. His expression dared Fox to deny it or call it anything less than what it was. And it should have been easy to do just that. A few weeks ago—a few  _minutes_  ago—the thought of he and Wolf being attracted to each other on any level would have been laughable.

But now...

Fox swallowed, powerless beneath that gaze while his mind raced ahead to everything Wolf was offering. Not just that body, but the life and person and everything else that came with it. And he found himself wondering, really considering...what  _would_  it be like to spend more than a few minutes in Wolf's company? To wake up to him each morning, to eat with him and work with him, to experience with him all those meaningless slice-of-life moments that everyone else took for granted? To share a kiss like that every night, full of passion and tenderness, not just the perfunctory pecks that he and Krystal had made into their ritual...

"...it wouldn't work out," Fox said hoarsely. "It just...wouldn't. With our history the way it is..."

He trailed off, a whole host of reasons and excuses ready on his tongue...

_We used to be enemies. We've only just become something like friends. I have a girlfriend. Slash fiancée. Our reputations would be ruined. My team would flay you alive. Everyone in my life would tell me it was wrong. All of Lylat would crucify us for one reason or another._

...yet none of it mattered. Looking at Wolf in that moment, Fox was amazed at how little it  _mattered_. The bottom line was that if Wolf were to climb onto the wing and kiss him again, Fox would gladly let him. If Wolf asked him to come to bed that night and every night after, Fox would cast aside those worthless excuses and tell him to lead the way. He would ignore every other voice in the universe shouting  _no_  and listen to that one deafening voice inside him that screamed a wholehearted  _yes_.

But it wasn't that simple. It could never be that simple.

"Can't let go of the past, huh?" Wolf said in a low voice. A grimace tugged at his mouth, but he turned his back before Fox could fully take it in, leaving him to guess if it was frustration or sadness or a blend of both. "Fine, I get it."

"Wolf..."

"The offer's open anyway," Wolf said unexpectedly, and he threw a look over his shoulder that could almost be called gentle. "And just so you know...I'd never tell you to keep your feet on the ground."

Fox blinked. It was the only reply he trusted himself to make. Wolf winked with the barest shadow of his usual confidence, then set off for his Wolfen across the clearing. Not once did he look back. Fox watched his retreating form, muscles tense beneath bristling fur, pulse beating out a frantic tempo. Fighting back the pang of lost opportunity and the urge to run after him and do something incredibly stupid that could only lead to terrible things in the future. To save himself from temptation, Fox withdrew into his Arwing and settled back in the seat, fingers drumming on the dash as the playlist on the radio looped around and began again from the beginning. " _You seem to know when I need to feel you closer..._ "

Fox leaned down and switched off the music. Hearing the Wolfen rev up and seeing it rise in the corner of his eye, he pretended to fiddle with the other instruments and kept his head bowed low until the massive shadow had passed over. Only when the engines were a distant screaming memory and the wind had died down to ear-ringing silence did Fox ease out a slow breath and slump back in the seat wretchedly, alone with the stars and his thoughts. He thought of his team and cringed. The concert was long over by now. They must be wondering where he was. Krystal would be wondering, possibly concerned for his wellbeing, and Fox had to come up with something to tell her to head off the inevitable shouting match. But if she could read his mind and see the train wreck of his thoughts, then surely she could see the guilt as well? Guilt for letting it happen, guilt for betraying her trust...yet there was a distinct  _lack_  of guilt for the act itself. He had enjoyed it, he had initiated and wanted it, he would do it again if he could. And so in a roundabout way Fox was left feeling guilty for  _not_ feeling guilty.

"That's messed up," Fox berated himself. He passed a hand over his face and dug the other in his pocket for the ring, desperately needing something tangible to remind him of all the things Krystal could give him that Wolf could not. A future, a family, a legacy to pass on. The kind of safety and stability and trusting partnership that so few found in their lifetime. Or at least it  _would_  be if Fox could be less of an idiot and find a way to be content with what he had instead of aching for something more. Something that she couldn't offer, some essential part of him that Wolf had satisfied without even trying or knowing. Something so deeply intrinsic that he couldn't put it into words...

...the ring was gone.

Fox went cold inside, futilely digging through an empty pocket as if that would make it magically appear. He quickly checked his other pocket, paused and checked the first pocket again. He leaned over to scan the floor of his Arwing, and when that yielded nothing, he climbed out and paced back and forth along the wing. Still nothing. No velvet box, no sparkling diamonds and amethysts. Somehow he had lost it. His  _mother's_  ring.

 _No, I had it, I know I did!_  Fox thought in rising panic. He dropped to the ground and searched the grass around his Arwing in ever widening circles, the camp torch clenched tight in his hand, frantically replaying the past few hours in his mind and trying to think of when he could have dropped it. He hadn't let it out of his sight or reach, not once...well, except for those few minutes when he had let Wolf hold it. But Wolf had given it back. Yes, Fox distinctly remembered a comment about 'turd-brown kids' just after he stowed the ring in his pocket, then they had stood up to finish their conversation. And then... _that_  happened, the kiss that caught him off guard and just about imploded his mind in the process.

And then...

_Wolf groaned, the sound low and needy and so alien coming from him. His hands shifted lower to ghost along Fox's hips and backside, one hand stroking his tail possessively...while the OTHER hand moved in a different direction and perhaps grazed a little too near his pocket..._

" _Son of a BITCH!_ " Fox bellowed so loudly that his voice echoed in the cove. Dropping the torch and sprinting back to the Arwing, he vaulted onto the wing and into his seat so fast that it had to be some kind of record, forgoing harness and headset and more than a few preflight safety checks as he sealed the canopy, gunned the engines and shot into the sky. The belly of his Arwing skimmed the dark shimmering water as he rocketed over the bay, anger boiling up inside and setting his blood on fire, eyes peeled in all directions. It was fully night now which forced him to rely heavily on his radar and altimeter rather than his own sight, but in the end it was the darkness that helped him spot the Wolfen, a vivid steak of violet that danced near the horizon like a lurid firefly. The bastard wasn't even trying to outrun or evade, just cruising along idly in a way Fox could only take as a blatant taunt. He clumsily wrestled on the headset one-handed, teeth gnashing right up until the comm channel opened and he howled the first words that came to mind.

"Goddamn it, Wolf!"

"Hahahahahaha!" Wolf cackled in roguish glee, his face taunting Fox from the screen on the dash like it had so many times during the war. "Wondered how long it'd take you! Sorry McCloud, that's what you get for flaunting your wealth in front of a known criminal."

Fox growled and squeezed the trigger to unleash a spray of lasers, which Wolf deflected with a lazy barrel roll and pulsed his thrusters to speed up and stay teasingly just out of range of a bomb. Fox would have tried a charged shot, but the crosshairs struggled to align with the darker starfighter, foiled by his shaking hands on the controls.

"Damn you...get back here!"

"Nah," Wolf replied. He flashed the velvet box in his hand. "This is a pretty little ring. Family heirloom, I'm guessing? Come to think of it, I've been short on cash lately, and I know some people who'd drop a hefty chunk of change just for the diamonds..."

"Don't you dare!" Fox shouted, highly aware of how helpless he was to actually stop him. Shooting him down would only lose the ring in the ocean, but the only other option was to follow him all the way back to Sargasso or wherever he was going, and Fox had a feeling that wouldn't end any better. "You have no right! That ring is worth more to me than—"

"Watch out," Wolf said in a bored voice. Fox flicked his eyes ahead and gasped at the sight of something massive looming a split second before his radar shrieked a warning. He pulled hard to the right as Wolf did the same to the left, the two fighters swooping around a towering hulk of rock thrusting up from the ocean. Fox held his breath, tense all over when he realized they had reached the vast field of irregular rock formations off the coast of Corneria City—at once a natural oddity, a tourist magnet, and a proving ground for daredevil pilots. Not even Fox had been able to resist, during the Venomian surprise attack, the temptation to weave his Arwing gracefully around those thick arches and jagged spikes, heedless of the deadly consequences if he made a single wrong turn. But he had been young and immortal and flying in daylight then, whereas now surrounded by the absolute blackness of night, it took all of two seconds for Fox to lose his nerve. He aimed the nose of his Arwing skyward, steeply ascending until he escaped the death trap and burst through a bank of low flying cloud where he found the Wolfen right in front of him, also hurtling upward. At this speed and trajectory, it would be a matter of minutes before they broke atmo.

"Tell you what," Wolf mused. "Maybe I  _won't_  sell it right away. I'll hang onto it for now, right here in my pocket. Call it insurance until I get my new eye."

"Insurance, my ass!" Fox spat. "You'll pawn it off the second I turn my back, you ungrateful bastard!"

"Now is that any way to talk to me?" Wolf teased, and Fox couldn't fathom how he had ever found that smirk sexy. "I thought we had something  _special_ , you and I?"

" _Cut the crap!_ " Fox roared and lost his temper. "It was all  _bullshit_ , wasn't it? Everything you said, that whole stupid speech about why you saved me. That kiss...and the whole time you were just  _waiting_  for the chance to screw me over as soon as I dropped my guard! That's all you've ever done since the day we met! I can't believe I thought...can't believe I thought for even a  _second_ that I could trust you!"

He ended the rant nearly on a scream and left off panting and seeing red, ten years' worth of enmity and vengeance-driven hatred all rushing back, old scars cut open and bleeding anew. And the sting of fresh betrayal was like salt in the wound, the bitter taste of poison on his tongue. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a mechanical act as if to erase the memory of Wolf's lips on his, and it pained him to know that what had felt so real at the time had been nothing but a ploy. He was such an  _idiot_.

It shouldn't even matter. It was just a kiss, with a man he once hated and had tried to kill a dozen times over. Not to mention he had a girlfriend. Somehow Fox kept forgetting about that.

Static burst in his ear after a painfully long silence, but instead of scornful laughter and cutting remarks, Wolf surveyed him with a dark look in his eye and an expression of absolute stillness. "You can think whatever you want about that kiss," he muttered. "But believe it or not, everything else was real. And I didn't take the damn ring just to screw with you, I did it to keep you from screwing yourself! This is the  _second_   _time_ , Fox! The second time I've had to step in and save you from your own stupidity!"

"What are you  _talking_  about? I'm getting married, not jumping off a roof!"

"Same difference, isn't it?"

"Besides," Fox said in a stroke of inspiration, "what makes you think this'll stop me? I don't  _need_  a ring to propose."

"You do what you've got to do, pup," Wolf snarled. "But by now, I think we both know you're not gonna marry her, and it's for reasons that have nothing to do with me."

Fox might have snapped out a retort...if he could think of one that sounded in the least bit compelling. If his heart had been in it at all. And if his dash hadn't flashed a warning about the imminence of breaking atmo within the next ten seconds. He didn't even want to think about all the problems an unauthorized reentry would cause with local authorities, and with a frustrated noise Fox cut the thrusters and slowed to a hover, watching sullenly as the Wolfen arced up and away until the engines were a speck in the distance, a star lost among thousands of others.

"That's what I thought," Wolf said quietly in his ear. "Come and get it when you're ready to fight for it."

And he was gone. A glance at his radar showed that Wolf had flown far out of range and was most likely in orbit by now. Fox cursed under his breath and slammed his fist into the side of the canopy, almost relishing the pain to his own flesh as a substitute for the pain he wanted to cause Wolf. "Bastard," he whispered. "I hate him, I  _hate_  him..."

"Unidentified fighter pilot, please state your name and intentions. You are in restricted airspace and will be treated as hostile if you do not comply or vacate within the next thirty seconds."

The unfamiliar female voice barking into his headset made Fox jump and stare around before he realized it wasn't another ship contacting him. Rather, it must be coming from air traffic control at the nearest starport where they would have caught sight of his ship on their radar. He cleared his throat a few times and hoped he didn't sound too frazzled. "Ah, this is Commander Fox McCloud of Team Star Fox. Just out for a leisure flight and I went a little off course. Sending you my ship's ID signature now."

"Acknowledged and received, Commander," the woman replied after a brief pause. "You are cleared to continue on as you were, but asked to please remain on the designated flight paths."

"Got it," Fox said, thinking that would be the end of it, and he became a little edgy when the comm channel remained open. The voice returned again, but this time with a distinct drop in professionalism.

"...seriously, is this  _the_  Fox McCloud?"

Fox almost smiled at the breathless awe in her voice and forced a rueful chuckle, sliding into the 'friendly celebrity' persona like a second skin and feeling safe behind its generic shelter. "Haha yeah, you caught me. Sorry, I know this area's supposed to be off limits, but...just felt like reliving the glory days, I guess. You were right to call me out."

An answering relieved laugh. "Yes, sir. You wouldn't believe how many stupid kids we have to warn off from those coordinates every year, always showing off to their friends, and it never fails that somebody crashes into those rocks and ends up dead or on life support...er, not that I'm saying  _you'd_ be the same way. I'm sure you of all people know exactly what you're doing out there..."

 _Not as much as you'd think,_  Fox thought with a grimace.

"Sir, could you confirm something for me? A minute ago I could have sworn there were two unidentified fighters on my screen, but right now I'm only seeing your Arwing. Was there somebody else out there with you?"

Fox hesitated, tempted to rat Wolf out for all the good it would do. But in the end shook his head. "Nope, my radar isn't showing anything. Must've been a glitch or something."

"Uh huh, sure you're not just covering for one of your friends?"

This time Fox really did laugh at the playful tone full of skepticism. "Uh, mayyybe...?"

The woman chortled. "It's fine, it's fine. As long as you get lost now and don't show up on my screen again, I can pretend I never saw you."

"Nice of you, thanks," Fox commented. He pulled his Arwing around and set a course for Corneria City, the glow of its lights so distant and faint on the horizon that he could barely tell it was there. "I'm heading back now. Take care."

"You too, McCloud. Have a happy New Year."

Fox let his expression fall as the comm channel closed, the banal words echoing faintly in his head.  _Have a happy New Year._  At this point he wasn't sure what that meant anymore. He couldn't imagine what the next few hours would bring for him, let alone the coming year because nothing seemed certain anymore. Even Star Fox, once the most permanent and comforting fixture in his life, was threatening to dissolve before his eyes, despite all his best efforts to hold them together. His teammates—his family—had begun to look ahead and face the future with open arms while Fox was stuck desperately holding onto the past.

And maybe...maybe that was why he had been clinging so hard to the idea of being with Krystal. Because at least if he chose her of his own volition, he could pretend everything else had been his idea as well. He could ground himself and watch the team go their separate ways and pretend it was what he had wanted all along, rather than being the last choice left to him.

 _But there is always another choice_. The words whispered from the depths of his soul, the voice of his father coming to him clearly for the first time in so many years. Fox looked straight ahead at the ocean, the sky, the lights on the horizon, and smiled as he relaxed and steered his Arwing on a more circuitous route. One that would still take him to the city, but eventually. In his own time. For now Fox put aside the past and future, the expectations and fears that had plagued him for so long, and lost himself in the sensation and wonder of flight.  _This_  was the only certainty in his life, the one thing he truly needed to live and breathe. Something that would outlast everyone and everything else, even the beat of his own heart. The team might drift apart, his relationship might crash and burn, but that didn't have to mean the end of anything. Not for him. The concept of going it alone had been lonely and frightening before, but did it have to be? Couldn't it be something exciting, something to look forward to? There would always be other teams he could join and—he allowed himself a fanged grin—other people he could learn to let inside his heart.

And something else was certain too. One of these days, in one way or another...he  _would_  get that ring back.


End file.
